Homola coriolisi Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995

Forges, Bertrand Richer De & Ng, Peter K. L., 2008, New western Pacific records of Homolidae De Haan, 1839, with descriptions of new species of Homolochunia Doflein, 1904, and Latreillopsis Henderson, 1888 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), Zootaxa 1967, pp. 1-35 : 2-5

Homola coriolisi Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995

( Figs. 1B, D, 15A)

Homola coriolisi Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1995: 342 , figs. 9f, 11e–f, 12D, 13d. – Cleva et al. 2007: 249 , fig. 17B. – Richer de Forges & Ng 2007: 32. – Ng et al. 2008: 40.

Material examined. Vanuatu: Espiritu Santo I., SANTO 2006, stn. AT 10, 15°41.1’S 167°00.5’E, 509–659 m, 17 September 2006: 1 male (12.8 x 11.2 mm) ( MNHN-B31278 ) .— Stn. AT 72, 15°44.1’S 167°03.3’E, 618–722 m, 7 October 2006: 1 female (15.1 x 12.9 mm, photographed) ( ZRC 2008.0976 ) .

Remarks. Homola coriolisi , originally described from New Caledonia ( Guinot & Richer de Forges 1995), is here recorded for the first time from Vanuatu. It is a relatively small-size species close to H. ikedai Sakai, 1979 , but differs mainly in having a proportionately wider carapace than H. ikedai and the orientation of the anterolateral spines being less divergent and more gently curved in H. coriolisi . From the available data, H. coriolisi also apparently lives at somewhat greater depths (exceeding 400 m and up to 722 m) than H. ikedai (200–650 m) (see Richer de Forges & Ng 2007). The carapace of live specimens is marbled yellow with red patches, the ambulatory legs are banded red and yellow, and the chelae are white, contrasting with the yellowish-brown of the rest of the body ( Fig. 15A).